Tuesday August 12, 2025

Bright Moon Joins Saturn and Neptune (overnight)

When the bright, waning gibbous moon clears the treetops in the east late on Tuesday evening, August 12, the prominent, yellowish dot of Saturn will shine to its right below the stars of western Pisces. The very faint blue planet Neptune will be positioned just a finger's width above Saturn, but a telescope will be required to see it well. The moon and two planets will cross the sky together and shine about halfway up the southern sky at dawn on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday evening, the moon will shine farther to Saturn's lower left (or celestial northeast). Perseids Meteor Shower Peak (overnight)

The spectacular Perseids meteor shower, which runs between July 17 and August 24 every year, will peak in the Americas on Tuesday night, August 12. This year's shower will be spoiled by a bright, 80%-illuminated, waning gibbous
moon shining all night long. While you can watch for Perseids streaking anywhere in the night sky, the time for seeing the most Perseids meteors in North America will be the hours before dawn on Wednesday morning, while the shower's radiant in Perseus is high in the northeastern sky. This is the most popular shower of the year, delivering as many as 100 meteors per hour at the peak. Derived from debris dropped by Comet Swift-Tuttle, many Perseids are extremely bright and leave persistent trails. To see the most meteors during any meteor shower, find a safe, dark location with plenty of open sky, get comfortable, and just look up and around. Hiding the moon behind a tree or building will help. Venus Kisses Jupiter (before sunrise)

On the mornings surrounding Tuesday, August 12, Venus' orbital motion toward the sun will carry it extremely close to Jupiter, producing a spectacular conjunction of the two brightest planets in the eastern sky between about 4 a.m. local time and sunrise. The duo will be binoculars-close from about Wednesday, August 6 to Sunday, August 17, with Venus approaching almost-as- bright Jupiter from the upper right (or celestial west) until their minimum separation on Tuesday, when Venus will be less than a finger's width to Jupiter's lower right (or celestial south). After Tuesday, Venus will shift farther to Jupiter's lower left every morning.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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